Posted on 07/12/2007 11:44:20 PM PDT by goldstategop
The politicians in Washington are dating impending doom. The vote yesterday by the House of Representatives in surrendering to the jihadists in Iraq spells T-R-A-V-E-S-T-Y in just about any dictionary.
Our stolidly sturdy troops in Iraq are beginning to get the idea that we, as a nation, are giving up on them, and it's time to let these honorable men and women in uniform know that the public won't allow the politicians to bail on them.
The people of this nation cannot give up on our troops – no matter how tempted the politicians become to do just that. We must not allow the scene of American helicopters evacuating U.S. personnel from the rooftop of a besieged embassy to be repeated in Baghdad.
Let's put on the table some of the generally accepted consequences of a withdrawal from Iraq without victory:
* Retreat would embolden Islamic jihadists who would rightfully claim that they defeated the greatest power in the free world.
* The Iraqi government would likely collapse altogether, allowing it to revert to its former position as a state sponsor of terrorism.
* America would lose any credibility as the world's lone "superpower" and would have little ability to rally other nations in actions to stop Islamic jihadists.
* Iran will become more emboldened to not only wipe "Israel off the map," but also to use nuclear weapons against the United States, Israel and European targets.
* Iraq itself would likely collapse into a pit of bloody violence as sects engaged in genocide and mass killings to gain the upper hand.
These are only a few of the likely consequences to which responsible figures in Washington and across the nation can agree. Lurking in the gray area are unforeseen troubles.
Given the consequences of failure, it is obvious that we must find the resolve, determination and grit to win this critical fight for the future of the free world.
I am perplexed by critics of Operation Iraqi Freedom and their claims that Iraq was not part of the frontline on the war against Islamic jihadism until Coalition forces launched the military campaign to topple Saddam Hussein's brutal regime.
These critics ignore the indisputable fact that Iraq was already one of the world's leading sponsors of Islamic terrorism. Can they truly believe that jihadists only flocked to the kite-flying fields of Iraq after the war began? To give any credence to their argument, one would have to then assume that, had the U.S. invaded France, then jihadists would have flocked there by the tens of thousands because that's where U.S. troops were.
The reasons jihadists are loath to allow Iraqis to live in a secular, democratic nation is the same reason they despise Israel and disdain the Kurds of northern Iraq. The jihadists consider the entire Middle East as the centerpiece for their Islamic caliphate that they wish to spread across the globe just as surely as Adolf Hitler intended to spread the reach of the Third Reich.
Al-Qaida could have only dreamed that, shortly after they used airplanes as missiles to take down the towers of the World Trade Center, prominent American politicians, journalists and bloggers would be arguing that American surrender was the best path to victory. And it only took six years for the white flags to wave.
Those who speak out against the mission of our troops in Iraq say that it is legitimate for Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to politically attack the mission in Iraq, noting that President Bush turned the issue on his political opponents in the 2004 election.
That's a ludicrous contention because it suggests moral equivalency between rooting for our troops and their missions, and rooting against them.
The next few weeks will bring waves of news about how bad things are in Iraq, and the sad thing is this isn't propaganda from America's enemies. Instead, it is propaganda from America's domestic enemies.
"Domestic enemies" – that's one of those phrases that causes great distress for many in the media and politics. To them, labeling people as such conjures up images of "McCarthyism" and blacklisting Americans as traitors.
With no apologies to the political and media elite in this country, I believe that those who understand the consequences of failure in Iraq, but who nonetheless relentlessly criticize Operation Iraqi Freedom, are domestic enemies.
A universe of people understand what will happen if we surrender in Iraq, but these people nonetheless argue for such a policy out of shameless political expediency.
Sens. Dick Lugar and George Voinovich, for example, are fully aware of the fact al-Qaida considers Iraq the frontlines in the war on terrorism. So if we are intent on destroying the al-Qaida terrorist network, winning in Iraq would be a good place to start, don't you think? Apparently, the same men who surrendered to the anti-military left over John Bolton's nomination to the United Nations are also prepared to surrender to Islamic jihadists in Iraq.
How can we win a war against Islamic jihadism when the terrorists have people who believe in bringing down the Western powers so fervently that they will blow themselves up, and we have on our side politicians acting as Sens. Lugar and Voinovich have?
I don't care what political party you call home. We are in a war against Islamic jihadism, a cancer that wants to cut our throats and rule the West.
President Bush has made many mistakes in the execution of the war against Islamic jihadists in Iraq. However, undermining the military's mission because of a personal dislike of Commander in Chief George W. Bush, or because he's not prosecuting the war the way some might prefer, is inexcusable and a lethal mistake we can ill afford to make.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
Of course, the blue-staters will do OK, but any of those red state reps may feel the heat.
They get this glass-eyed stare and mumble something about Vietnam and our 'popularity". Talking about Islamisc fundamentalism, and the mass-slaughter that will occur after such a retreat, gets no response.
I shy away from some of the "All Democrats are..." such-and-such talk that commonly goes on here, but in this case, it's absolutely true--they ALL think the terrorism is a Bush exagerration, and the US is the Big Bad Guy in the world. Islamofascism gets a sneer and a wave of the hand.
So now, I guess it's up to the Senate and it doesn't look good there either.
Those traitors in DC are cowards! They should be hanged!
Somehow they’ve taken away out idiot Senators and Representitives and replaced them with super-mega-idiot Senators and Representitives!
Can’t we just have the old idiots back???
So much for politicians doing their duty of protecting Americans.
Too many Senators have switched sides now, including my Senator, Domenici. They no longer support the war and I don't think there are enough Senators to stop it now. Bush will veto it but can't they send it back through again, to override his veto?
.
NO!
We can't keep on being the silent majority, sitting back quietly on this one.
BELIEVE me that the troops are demoralized over this cr*p going on over here. I have heard it directly.
They need to know that there are SOME AMERICANS who support them AND their mission. the need to know it - HEAR it NOW.
To do./say nothing is to be just as traitorous as the libRats - sins of omission.
We need to make a big noise with the media, with the politicians - crash their da*m web sites with massive emails - Let our troops know we are with them...
Each and every one of who sits and just cluck=clucks and does not scream and holler - is GUILTY of letting our troops and our country down.
The vote generally followed party lines: 219 Democrats and four Republicans in favor, and 191 Republicans and 10 Democrats opposed.
This is what happens when the stupid voters of this country let the Rats get in the house!
bttt
yeah - I guess we showed those republicans, didn't we. sarq
The sad part is that the media and the libRAts played a favorite card of Communism - and kept everyone, pre election, so singly focused on one issue - immigration -and gave them plenty of unobserved room to sneak in the back door and do their dirty deeds.
Each and every conservative that fell for the ruse of 'teaching the republicans a lesson' and let the real enemy to gain control - is equally responsible for anything the libRats are able to now do....sleep well.
It not a complete withdraw either, they want to leave behind Americans to Bill Clinton’s Somolia ‘Black Hawk Down’ conditions.
That's what bothers me about it. If it is not worth risking the lives of 140,000 troops, or whatever number is there now, it isn't worth the risk of 1. Less troops means those there are at more risk. It is quite sickening. This is a calculated political move by the Dems to gain power. It has nothing to do with the security of the nation.
We should never stand by and let congress delegate the constitutional authority to declare war to the executive branch again. Every time they do it, the congress turns whatever transpires into politics. They become the sniveling cowards they truly are.
This vote also sends the message to our enemy that they can inflict their agenda anywhere in the world without interference from the US.
Pelosi & co. made the world alot more dangerous for all people.
bump
Two potential consequences of an American pull-out from Iraq:
1) Without American defense (or an adequate Iraqi defense, if such ever evolves) Iraq would be unable to stop an invasion from Iran. Teheran could justify its invasion on the flimsiest of humanitarian excuses, or just skip the excuse and declare a resumption of the Iran-Iraq War. They could roll their entire army and complete the job in a matter of days and we would see pictures of gleeful Iranian soldiers shaking hands at the border with their Syrian counterparts.
2) After abandoning them once before, to the gentle ministrations of a vengeful Saddam, the Iraqis will eternally remember our treachery this time around. Their thirst for vengence would be never-ending and unquenchable.
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